Organization system and method for calendar applications

ABSTRACT

A system for parsing data from a document and populating an electronic calendar, the system including a converting tool adapted to convert a document into a plain text format having plain text data. A parser is provided that is operable to process the plain text data, identify at least a target date and task, and convert the target date and task into an electronic calendar format file adapted to cooperate with an electronic calendar and place the target date and the task into the calendar.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit to provisional patentapplication number 61/680,924 filed Aug. 8, 2012, the subject matter ofwhich is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods of obtaining andparsing data from a document and converting that data into a useableformat to provide information to populate an electronic calendar,particularly the data is received and imported into an electroniccomputer-based calendar.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Electronic calendars are well known and popular. Such calendars areaccessible electronically through a personal computer or portable devicesuch as a phone or tablet. These calendars can be hosted locally oraccessed remotely through a web-application. The calendars can furtherbe hosted through a cloud. Electronic calendars are especially valuablefor business environments to provide convenient schedule and taskmanagement. Typical calendar systems allow for meetings to be scheduledthrough email and the like providing efficient methods of populatingimportant events and such into a personal calendar. These calendars canbe shared as well and viewable by others to check availability forfuture dates.

Typically, events are populated into a calendar manually or throughelectronic files operable to be imported into the calendar. Such filesinclude “i-Calendar” or “.ics” files. The term “.ics” is an extensionformat commonly used in the art. The term “i-Calendar” is synonymouswith “iCalendar”. The i-Calendar file is a computer file format whichallows internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to otherinternet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics.Recipients of the iCalendar data file (with supporting software, such asan email client or calendar application) can respond to the sendereasily or counter propose another meeting date/time. iCalendar is usedand supported by a large number of calendar software products in theindustry. iCalendar is designed to be independent of the transportprotocol.

Manually inputting important dates into a calendar can be tedious andtime consuming. For example, the time it takes a college student topopulate his or her electronic calendar with due dates for assignmentsand test dates may be several hours to incorporate a full time schedule.Moreover, manually inputting the data into the calendar leavessignificant room for user error causing risk of missing important dates.No convenient system currently exists to solve this long felt need toprovide convenient and automatic calendar populating given a schedule ordocument, whether physically scanned or provided electronically.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to a system for parsing data from adocument and populating an electronic calendar, the system includes (a)a converting tool adapted to convert a document into a plain text formathaving plain text data; and (b) a parser the parser operable to processthe plain text data, identify at least a target date and task, andconvert the target date and task into an electronic calendar format fileadapted to cooperate with an electronic calendar and place the targetdate and the task into the calendar. In an example, the parser andconverting tool can be hosted on a computing device. In a furtherexample, the parser and converting tool are hosted on a remote serveraccessed through a web-based application remotely by a user. Theelectronic calendar can be hosted on a local or remote server andviewable from a computing device. The computing device typicallyincludes a display. Example computing devices include but are notlimited to a personal computer, laptop, smart phone, tablet or the like.The document can be selected from the group consisting of a physicalcopy, an electric copy, or a combination thereof.

The parser can be adapted to identify content associated with thedocument, search for purchasing options through the internet and providethe purchasing options associated with the content to a user. In anexample, the document is a course syllabus for a course having aplurality of target dates associated with tasks selected from the groupconsisting of homework, quizzes, tests, class meetings, and combinationsthereof. The syllabus can optionally provide course reading materialthat may be purchased, such as books or the like, and the parser furtherallows for identifying these materials to be searched on the internetand providing a user with purchasing options for the identifiedmaterial. The target date can further include detailed target timesassociated with the time of day for the task, such as for attendingclass or other appropriate meeting. In a further example, the parserperforms tasks as outlined in FIG. 2.

The present disclosure further provides for a method of populating acalendar comprising the steps of: (a) converting a document, scanned,downloaded, and/or uploaded, into plain text format data; (b)electronically processing the text data through a parser to identifytarget data such as due dates and tasks; (c) converting the target datainto an electronic calendar format file adapted to cooperate with theelectronic calendar hosted on a local or remote server and viewable froma computing device having a display such as a personal computer, laptop,smart phone, tablet or the like; and (d) populating the electroniccalendar with the target data.

Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be readilyappreciated, as the same becomes better understood after reading thesubsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will become morereadily apparent when taken in conjunction with the following figuresand illustrations.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram according to the presentdisclosure of an example process of populating a calendar with relevantdue dates from a calendar.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram according to the presentdisclosure of an example process of parsing data from a given document.

DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides for a system and method of populating anelectronic calendar with target dates and times obtained from adocument. The document can be a hard copy or physical document and thenscanned electronically or obtained electronically. In an example, adocument can be transmitted electronically through email or obtainedelectronically by downloading or uploading from a particular weblocation. The document can also be saved to a portable storage devicesuch as a flash drive and accessed when plugged into a computing device.

A computing device can be any typical device that hosts computerprograms and allows visual display of the content associated with thoseprograms. A personal computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet and others arewithin the scope of a computing device.

Electronic calendars can be accessed and viewable from a computingdevice. A calendar program or application can be hosted locally on thedevice or remotely on a server or through a cloud format. A user of anelectronic calendar may be able to access his or her personal calendarvia any computing device through a web-based application using theinternet. For example, if user may have a private user account set upthrough GOOGLE which includes a GOOGLE CALENDAR account. The user canaccess his calendar by logging into his account from any remote locationwith internet access. His calendar can include scheduled items includinguser specified and populated target dates such as birthdays andanniversaries or due dates for certain projects, academic assignments,or professional tasks. A specific time window can also be included anddisplayed on the calendar item.

The present disclosure provides for obtaining a document having at leastone target due date and converting that document into a calendar baseddata file to be uploaded into a user specific electronic calendar. In anexample, a user can be a university or college student who is taking aparticular class or course of study. The user may be given a coursesyllabus that includes several key target dates associated with thecourse. In this example the course may last fifteen weeks ending with afinal exam. The syllabus may have a grade distribution based on acombination of homework grades, quiz grades, test grades, and a finalexam score. During the course, three major exams will be taken by thestudents on specified dates, times and locations. The dates, times, andlocations of quizzes can also be provided as well as class schedule anddue dates for homework. Other related information can be provided aswell including any out of class activities, field trips, and/or coursematerials which should be purchased and used for studying and homework.For example, the syllabus may list one or more textbooks, novels, orworks of nonfiction that serve as a basis for the class.

The present disclosure provides for a system and method of processingthe information provided in the syllabus and populating a calendarapplication based on identified target due dates and task informationassociated with the target dates such as times and location andassignments. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an example flow diagram isschematically illustrated further building on the university examplediscussed hereinabove. In box 10, the system begins by providing asyllabus for a particular class.

The syllabus can be handed-out in class, possibly by the instructor orteaching assistant, sent to each student via email, or accessed from adedicated course website. The syllabus is converted to or provided in anelectronic format as the system and methodology progresses to box 12. Ifit is scanned into a computer using a standard scanner for example, itcan be captured in a .pdf or other image format. The syllabus can bedownloaded such that it exists to the user as an electronic document ina variety of formats.

The system and methodology then progresses to box 14 where the documentis uploaded into a parsing tool. The parsing tool is interchangeablyreferred to as a parser. The parser then performs a data parsing step atbox 16 where the document is evaluated for desired content. The systemand methodology then advances to either or both of box 20 and 30.Following from box 20, the parser identifies desired information fromthe document such as relevant due dates along with tasks and informationassociated with those tasks. Additional information associated with atask can include homework assignments, due dates, class times,out-of-class lecture series, test dates, and the like. The informationidentified in the parsing step is then bundled and converted into anelectronic calendar readable format in box 22, for example, an “.ics”file extension. Moving to box 24, the bundled calendar readable file canthen be uploaded by the user into a user specific electronic calendarapplication to populate their calendar with the information, data, anddue dates identified by the parser.

The data obtained through parsing step 16 can further continue throughthe system and methodology at box 30 where relevant resources associatedwith the course and provided on the syllabus are determined andidentified. The syllabus, for example, may list one or more textbooks,works of literature, or course packets to be studied during the class.These materials can, and often do, serve as the basis for the class. Thesubject matter of these resources is typically that which is testedduring the semester through tests, essays, quizzes, and a final exam.Once the relevant resources are identified, the system progresses to box32 where desired content is found using web-based searching that relatesto such resources. The content is then provided to the user through thecomputing device display at box 34. The content can include reviews ofthe material, pricing, links to purchase such resources, comparableprices among different vendors for the resources, and other informationwithin the scope of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example flow diagram of the specific system andprocess of the parsing step. The document is first converted in box 40into a text readable format such as “.txt” or “.xml” format. The systemand methodology then advances to box 41 where date determination isperformed and referred to as date extraction. If no date exists, then anerror message is generated at box 42. If at least one date exists, thenthe system advances to box 43. Box 43 serves as table detection todetermine if any tables exist in the document. The tables may includevaluable information for the parser to identify and bundle in ameaningful way later. Often syllabi list dates, assignments, and otherinformation in tables. If a table exists then the system and methodologyadvances to box 44 for table extraction followed by task and assignmentextraction at box 46. If no table exists but the date exists, then thesystem proceeds to box 45 to identify target paragraphs. The targetparagraph step locates and identifies paragraphs that contain dates andpotential tasks. The system continues to box 46 for task and assignmentextraction where any tasks and assignments or other information isextracted from either the identified target paragraphs (box 45) or theextracted tables (box 44). The task and assignment extraction isfollowed by a filtering step at box 47 which filters out any invalidtasks or assignments. This can be preset to determine conditions whichconstitute an invalid task or assignment based on predefined criteria.Following the filtering step 47 is generation of the electronic calendarreadable file at box 48.

The parser is operable in taking an example .doc or .pdf course syllabusdocument and converts it into a plain text (.txt) file. Using regularexpressions, the parser looks for date patterns, for example, April 15,20xx, 4/15, Apr. 15, and the like, that appear. These dates maycorrespond to assignment dates or other relative information. The parsercan then use a variety of different pattern recognition algorithms topull assignment text strings out of the syllabus document. Theseassignment strings of text are then bundled together into an .ics file,which is importable into a diverse group of calendar applications.

Many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possiblein light of the above teachings. Therefore, within the scope of theappended claim, the present disclosure may be practiced other than asspecifically described.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system populating an electronic calendar, thesystem comprising: (a) an electronic computer conversion tool providedon a computing device having a processor, the conversion tool adapted toconvert a document into a plain text format having plain text data; and(b) a parser for parsing data from a document, the parser hosted on thecomputing device and operable to process the plain text data, identifytarget dates and tasks, and convert the target dates and tasks into anelectronic calendar format file adapted to cooperate with an electroniccalendar and place the target dates and the tasks into the calendar. 2.The system of claim 1 wherein the parser and converting tool are hostedon a computing device.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the parser andconverting tool are hosted on a remote server accessed through aweb-based application remotely by a user.
 4. The system of claim 1wherein the document is selected from the group consisting of a physicalcopy, an electric copy, or a combination thereof.
 5. The system of claim1 wherein the parser is programmed to identify content provided in thedocument and search for purchasing options through the internet andprovide the purchasing options and information associated with thecontent to a user.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the document is acourse syllabus for an educational course having a plurality of targetdates associated with tasks selected from the group consisting ofhomework, quizzes, tests, class meetings, and combinations thereof. 7.The system of claim 6 wherein the syllabus optionally provides coursereading material that may be purchased and the parser further allows foridentifying these materials to be searched on the internet and providinga user with purchasing options and other information for the identifiedmaterial.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the target date furthercomprises detailed target times associated with the time of day for thetask.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the parser is operable to detectand extract from the document data associated with dates, tables,paragraphs, assignments and tasks, and filter invalid tasks andassignments.
 10. A method of populating an electronic calendarcomprising the steps of: (a) converting a document into plain textformat data through a computer device having a processor and a display;(b) electronically processing the text data through a parser provided onthe computer; (c) identifying target data with the parser and collectingthe target data separate from other data identified in the plain textformat data; (d) converting the target data into an electronic calendarformat file adapted to cooperate with the electronic calendar hosted ona local or remote server and viewable from a computing device having adisplay; and (e) populating the electronic calendar with the targetdata.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the document conversion isachieved through any of scanning, downloading, and uploading thedocument using a computer.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the targetdata includes due dates and tasks associated with the document.
 13. Themethod of claim 10 wherein the computer device is selected from thegroup consisting of a personal computer, a laptop, a smart phone, and atablet.
 14. The method of claim 10 wherein the document is associatedwith a particular educational course having a plurality of due dates andtasks associated with calendar dates.
 15. The method of claim 14 whereinthe educational course provided by a post-secondary educationalinstitution.
 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps ofidentifying resources available through online venders to purchaseassociated with the particular educational course.
 17. A method ofpopulating an electronic calendar using a parser provided on a computingdevice comprising the steps of: (a) converting a document into plaintext format data through a computer device having a processor and adisplay; (b) electronically processing the text data through a parserprovided on the computer; (c) detecting and extracting dates provided onthe document; (d) detecting and extracting tables provided on thedocument; (e) detecting and extracting target paragraphs containingdates and tasks provided on the document; (f) detecting and extractingtasks and assignments provided on the document; (g) filtering invalidtasks and assignments; (h) generating an electronic calendar format fileadapted to cooperate with the electronic calendar hosted on a local orremote server and viewable from a computing device having a display.